Played a few hours now, and yeah, it's definitely a ton of just silly, stupid fun. I still doubt I know even 1/4 of what the hell is going on at any given moment, but it's still pretty fun to mess around with. I generally have a really hard time with games that I can't figure out or that don't do a great job of explaining their mechanics (both are elements strongly at play with this game), but I'm trying to actively suppress that frustration and just roll with it.

Playing through the Spirit adventure quest has been a blast so far, and the nostalgia aspect is pretty awesome.

Have you watched the How to play videos and read the tips, both in the Games and More section (I think)?

Trying to, yeah. There's a ton of info, but I'm starting to figure it out.

There's a video in Vault-->Movies-->"How to Play" that's 1:30 and goes over all the basics. I'm a little surprised they didn't show that as a tutorial as the game started, as it would have explained a ton for those of us that don't have a clue what's going on.

Same here. There's a lot to get through. Just making sure you knew that they actually do a great job explaining everything. It's just that 'everything' takes many hours of study to get your head around. I expect to be there sometime in January...

Interesting that I've read 3 reviews this morning which all trashed the single player "World of Light" mode. For me, that mode has been the funnest part of the game so far, but it seems like it's not getting particularly good reception with players.

Interesting that I've read 3 reviews this morning which all trashed the single player "World of Light" mode. For me, that mode has been the funnest part of the game so far, but it seems like it's not getting particularly good reception with players.

I noticed that, as well. I haven't played it much yet, but it seems neat to me. I'm sure there's a wide range of quality on the spirit stuff--eg some are really neat mash-ups and a bunch are just stat changes tattooed onto random characters--but it still seems like an interesting mode to me.

Also, I unlocked Sonic yesterday and my girls--both of whom have no idea who Sonic is--went nuts. Games are fun.

If you have even a passing interest in the "games as art" genre (i.e. Journey, Flower, Abzu, etc.) then this one is absolutely a must-play. It's stunningly beautiful, and I loved it's representation of a journey through grief. It's a short play (took me about 3 hours over a couple nights).

It's fine. They lost interest pretty fast, so I'd advise getting it on sale. Last year's edition worked for us.

Good point. It would cost me quite a chunk too, as I'd need to buy the game, another set of JoyCons, and either buy another dock or move the current one upstairs anytime they wanted to play (there's no room to play it in my office where the Switch is currently docked.

Probably better off just letting them dance along with the YouTube versions.

We got our switch last year, and some new games for it this year.
Most specifically, I got Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition

Wow, its a massive game. The definitive edition contains the unique options and DLC form the other editions.

I played this on Wii U, completed the main quest, and was part way through one of the adventure maps. That was more than a hundred hours, not sure how much more, but it was a lot.

This edition has even more missions on the main quest, a bunch of new adventure maps, all the extra characters, raise your own fairy companion, and split screen co-op.

If you don't know it. Hyrule Warriors is a Dynasty Warriors game with a Zelda theme.
You play as a hero in 3d environment in an action style battle game. there are keeps and control points you can capture, pots to break for health and powerups, secrets to find, and minions to slay.

In this type of game, there are minions, leaders, heroes, and bosses.

Minions are spawned by the dozens or hundreds, generally take one hit to kill, tend to congregate in groups, endlessly respawn until their leader is killed. And nearly all your attacks are Area of Effect. This leads to kill counts in the thousands for most missions. Its very satisfying to slash your way through a hundred minions with ease, and its also possible to ignore them and just dash by, on your way to something more important. Minions don't even have a health bar.

Leaders are spawned occasionally to move about the map with a group of minions on tow. Leaders do have a health bar and come in several flavors, some with special attacks. Leaders will respawn their minions periodically, and sometimes spawn a group of minions upon death. the game controls allow you to focus your viewpoint on leaders (and above) so that even when dashing about, you can always see where they are. Leaders are capable of conquering control points and keeps, and many mission goals involve killing specific leaders, or preventing them from controlling specific keeps. Leaders and above can have a "weak point gauge". After performing specific special attacks, they are open to counterattack as represented by the weak point gauge. Hitting them will do extra damage, and if the gauge is filled,a unique attack is fired, doing tremendous damage.

Heroes are the main characters of the game. They always have a variety of special moves, and by the end you should be able to play as any one of them. The opposing heroes will have level,power, and weapons appropriate to the map.

Bosses are specific large monsters. They have unique attacks, and are often primary goals in a mission. Each boss requires specific strategy and equipment to defeat. Regular attacks to negligible damage to a boss. Instead you must weather their attacks until they perform a specific move. Counterattack with specific equipment to reveal the weak point gauge, and then hit them. For example, King Dorango is a giant dragon? lizard? You must wait until he breaths in to charge his fire attack, then rush to his mouth and toss in some bombs.

Outside of the battlemap, each hero can be leveled up, and skills acquired. There is no decision for the skills, its just unlocking them and leveling up. There are weapon for each hero, each weapon can have specific weapon skills attached, such as More Fire Damage, or increased healing from hearts. there are also tiers of weapons, and skills can be move between them. Each hero may also have alternate weapons that have a different move set, different elemental affinity.

There are a limited number of maps, so eventually you learn them all. Sometimes the maps are chopped in half to provide a smaller battle area. There is also a limited amount of missions and goals. Things like, Kill all bad guys, kill specific bad guys, kill a specific number of bad guys, conquer specific keeps, defend specific keeps, don't let specific heroes get killed.
But it will still take some time to get used to accomplishing the goals, and certain missions may have you running all over the map. Things like, your base is under assault, you must defend it, but you also must stop the boss from reaching a certain point on the map, and if your companion is killed you lose.

I am not that good at remembering move combinations. Street fighter and Smash bros are beyond me. but this game uses a simple two button scheme for attacks and combos, and it seems to flow well with my brain. The game is easier if you remember what attacks you are trying to do, and remember what the opposing special moves look like, but its also possible to be successful by mashing the attack button.

Wow, its a massive game. The definitive edition contains the unique options and DLC form the other editions.

I got this for my girls for Christmas. They seemed to indicate that they had almost completed the story after about 4 days of playing. They were having a blast though. (I played with the a bit but spent most of my time with Factorio.) What should I tell them to try after the main story? Or is it pretty obvious? They really like unlocking the characters and leveling them up.

The main game mode Legend Mode can be played on easy, normal, and hard or hero. easy and medium are just difficulties, hard and hero has a new set of things to unlock, and you may need to look them up online, because its not always obvious. Example, play as Impa with Giants blade, and keep bombchu health above 50%

You can at any time switch over to the Adventure Mode, there is a collection of maps that look like the original zelda games, here is where your choices start to matter more. each square on the map is a battle with specific rules, and things to unlock. there is the standard unlocks, like more hearts or new weapons for characters, and drawing fragments. it also has the new unlocks for fairys, if they haven't unlocked any yet, go to adventure mode, and you get get a fairy, then find fairy food to feed it and level it up, and also various outfits. the fairy then accompanies you in the battle maps, and provides various bonuses.

Also the adventure mode, specific squares need you to open the secrets, and you do that with items you collect by beating the battle maps, and some squares are only unlocked for use if you can beat the neighboring square with a certain rank (A B C, etc) So its like an entire another game, but it lets you keep using the same characters, and you can switch back and forth to legend mode, or to other adventure mode maps, all while keeping your same characters.

And if you haven't done it yet, bust out them amiigos, they will give you free stuff or costume unlocks and such.

another thing you maybe didn't see, you can change the character costume before entering the battle map. when at the character select screen, one of the buttons (x) is what you push to bring up the costume select screen.

One More thing. check the guide, and then help them find and unlock the great fairy weapon for Link.
its super amazing. when you use select "great fairy" as your weapon when using link, you actually play as the great fairy, and she keeps Link in a bottle.

I bought it (the pro controller) and my kids refuse to use it. They are completely happy with the joy cons whether they are playing on the TV or in hand. I never get to use the switch so I have yet to form an opinion.

I have to say that when they first announced MP4 and Retro wasn't involved, I had my doubts. Sad to see that they were well-founded, but happy to see that in the end we'll get a real Retro Metroid Prime game.

At this point I expect Metroid Prime 4 will come out for the successor to the Switch. I really wish Nintendo would port the HD Zelda remakes for the Switch and release an HD remastered Metroid Prime trilogy for the Switch. It continues to confound me why they haven't already done this. Meanwhile, my Switch collects dust.

It would be cool to do and I really hope they do (and I presume they will as they are continuing to bring Wii u tithes over) but... There are a ton of awesome games for the switch already. Yours might collect dust due to personal taste but there is no shortage of excellent games for the switch. It's not like they need to bring them over to have enough quality games.

Most of the games on the Switch that I would be interested in are multi-platform. I will almost always opt for PC in that case since they look better, are generally less expensive, and I can play them forever on future PCs - unless I like the idea of a portable version (hasn't happened yet). The 3 Switch games I own are Zelda, Mario Odyssey, and Mario Kart. Zelda was incredible, and (at the time) justified the price of admission because I assumed more stuff would be coming that I wanted. So far, that hasn't happened. (Sorry I have never been into Smash Bros.) When the Switch was released I seriously considered getting a Wii U instead. Some days I wish I had. IF I had, I would have only missed out on Mario Odyssey. But, I would also have a Virtual Console (not having the VC on the Switch has to be among the dumbest and costly decisions Nintendo ever made), and HD versions Wind Waker and Twilight Princess which I just assumed would be coming to the Switch and Nintendo won't even definitively say if they are ever coming to the Switch.

I still think the Switch is a slick piece of hardware, but now I fear MP4 may be saved for its successor, and I continue to wonder WHAT will be the next game I buy for the Switch. Will I ever buy another game for the Switch?

Most of the games on the Switch that I would be interested in are multi-platform. I will almost always opt for PC in that case since they look better, are generally less expensive, and I can play them forever on future PCs - unless I like the idea of a portable version (hasn't happened yet). The 3 Switch games I own are Zelda, Mario Odyssey, and Mario Kart. Zelda was incredible, and (at the time) justified the price of admission because I assumed more stuff would be coming that I wanted. So far, that hasn't happened. (Sorry I have never been into Smash Bros.) When the Switch was released I seriously considered getting a Wii U instead. Some days I wish I had. IF I had, I would have only missed out on Mario Odyssey. But, I would also have a Virtual Console (not having the VC on the Switch has to be among the dumbest and costly decisions Nintendo ever made), and HD versions Wind Waker and Twilight Princess which I just assumed would be coming to the Switch and Nintendo won't even definitively say if they are ever coming to the Switch.

I still think the Switch is a slick piece of hardware, but now I fear MP4 may be saved for its successor, and I continue to wonder WHAT will be the next game I buy for the Switch. Will I ever buy another game for the Switch?

best hang on to your hat, the next mainline pokemon game is supposed to be coming on the switch, and rumour mill says it will be an overtheshoulder 3d , instead of topdown or iso like the previous games.